KLTV 7 News Tyler, Longview, Jacksonville |Sabine River floods...enough already, rain!
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By Bob Hallmark - bio | email
Posted by Ellen Krafve - bio | email
SABINE RIVER, TX (KLTV) - East Texas river bank dwellers have to deal with a familiar foe: water rising to their back doors.
Along the Sabine bottoms, the river exploded out of its banks, flooding roads and fields for miles near the Gladewater bridge. Cars and trucks were submerged. Water was creeping up near the airport runway. In Gregg County near the Sabine, roads were already impassable.
"I've seen it where you couldn't even get down this road," said Doug Smith, a White Oak resident. "You wouldn't even want to try it. That little trailer house is just on this side of the bank."
Near Lindale, 1804 was completely swamped. The road disappeared under floodwater.
On the ground, there was no way to tell just how big the flooding is in East Texas, but an aerial viewpoint showed just how massive the flooding was in our area. Click on the video in the upper right-hand corner of this page to take a look.
Some homes were stranded on islands, forcing homeowners to use boats to get in and out.
"Now, they might have a problem," said Gregg McMann. "They live on the river bank itself. Some of them have their houses on stilts and some of them don't. I hope they got everything that's worth something out of there."
And, with another round of rain on the way, many who live along the river banks are worried for their homes and their neighbor's welfare.
"What if it happened in the middle of the night, and you woke up," said Smith. "Because the river comes up pretty quick!"
Some have been through it many times before, and will just wait and see.
"Far as the rain coming Thursday or Friday, it's just going to raise it up about two or three feet," said McMann. "I'm not concerned about none of that."
They hope things don't get any worse.
If you'd like to watch our exclusive tour of the flooded banks of the Sabine River, click here.
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